Living Legends: LINDA RABBITT

The construction company Rabbitt founded in 1989 has grown to a $445 million corporation employing 260 people. Rand is the largest commercial general contractor in the country founded and owned by a woman.

A mainstay on Washingtonian magazine’s 100 Most Powerful Women in D.C. list, Rabbitt is a board member for The Economic Club of Washington, D.C., which in June presented her with its Arne M. Sorenson Excellence in Leadership Award.

Rabbitt graduated from the University of Michigan and earned her master’s degree from George Washington University, where she’s a trustee emeritus.

A former deputy board chair for the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, she serves on the board of Children’s National Medical Center and co-chairs the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ Washington Corporate Council. She’s also a director for British insurance company Willis Tower Watson PLC.

BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS: From my father: “Good enough is never good enough.” From my first mentor: “Never mistake activity for results.”

SOMETHING I’D NEVER DO AGAIN: A static-line jump off the strut of a single-engine plane at 3,000 feet!

FAVORITE SONG: “Break My Stride,” by Matthew Wilder